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Hydraulic fracturing itself should not necessarily be really harmful for the environment. However, well failures and accidents in the process can have hazardous consequences. This is what primarily causes public concerns about the environment---and rightfully so!Yet still, the prevention of hazards appears to be greatly lacking in the natural gas industry. I have personally looked into the ins and outs of hydraulic fracturing for a long time, while being motivated by the [persistence of my] disagreement with one of my mentors.Gas well failuresThe Pennsylvania Marcellus formation has become famous for its high frequency of gas well hazards. Taken from this report is this image, containing the data of well failures in the Marcellus play based on violations issued by the DEP, I present you this figure [1].Violations are identified as a well failure if one or more of the following is the case.Violation Codes Used to Identify Wells with Violations for Figure 7 (figure above).78.73A - Operator shall prevent gas and other fluids from lower formations from entering fresh groundwater.78.81D2 - Failure to case and cement properly through storage reservoir or storage horizon78.83A - Diameter of bore hole not 1 inch greater than casing/casing collar diameter78.73B - Excessive casing seat pressure78.83GRNDWTR - Improper casing to protect fresh groundwater78.83COALCSG - Improper coal protective casing and cementing procedures78.85 - Inadequate, insufficient, and/or improperly installed cement78.86 - Failure to report defective, insufficient, or improperly cemented casing207B - Failure to case and cement to prevent migrations into fresh groundwaterWhat the data above means is that serious defects in gas wells, that may cause hazards, occur in a pretty big rate.It is also often presumed that gas well leaks are a problem of the past, due to the advance of technology and chemistry of cement and in cementing throughout time. Incidents are occurring more frequently only because today a much larger number of gas wells are operational, so is said. But it is not true---even in percentages gas wells exhibit an increasing trend of occurrences of gas leaks (sustained casing vent flow (SCVF) and gas migration (GM)) [2].So, I have made the point that there exists a great threat of hazard under the current insecure fashion that hydraulic fracturing takes place.Now let us look at the risks it bears.Climate impactThere exists a major clash of conflicting studies on the effect of unconventional gas extraction on climate change. On the one hand, the emissions of greenhouse gasses from shale gas are lower than that of other sources, such as coal [3]. However, according to other research scientists, these lower CO2-emissions are offset by the unintended methane emissions on the extraction sites or transport routes [4][5][6]. Indeed, methane is roughly 30 times more potent as a heat-trapping gas than CO2 [7]. In reaction to this dispute, further research has suggested that if the cumulative leakage of methane gas remains under 3.2% of the extracted gas, energy transition from coal to gas would not lead to increased effects on climate change. Fortunately, by comparison, according to the EPA the American gas wells leak no more than 2,4% on average, which also has a potential of being decreased more [8]. Hughes (2011) [9], however, dismissed the data from the EPA as being largely underestimated, stating that the leakage rates will most likely be about 40% higher.Disclaimer: Perhaps it is unfair that I did not take sustainable energy (solar, wind) into consideration here. I didn't, because it would distract the reader from the actual question.Gas leakingMethane gas leaks usually occur steadily---and for a long time if remaining undetected or untreated. Cement, the material of the casing around the well, may shrink slightly. This causes shallow empty space around the annulus to form, disbonded from the soil or rock around it. If the wells passes shallow underground gassy zones, methane may escape through the spaces our the annulus. You can see this in the next figure [10].Gasses may, usually under high pressure, also escape through the casing and cement walls. This may be caused by cracks or pores in the cement casing and fill. This can lead to the excretion of gasses in ground layers where it does not naturally occur. When combined with the phenomenon named above, it may lead to serious hazards, as the high pressure of the well may exacerbate gas leaking. Various potential leaking pathways were identified [10].The mechanics of how liquids and gasses may migrate their way up to freshwater aquifers or reach the surface are, unfortunately, still largely unknown. Causes of migration may vary in different soils and research of the exact causes requires large research investments. Nevertheless, there is evidence of amounts of methane from gas wells appearing in private water wells as far as 1 km away from the nearest gas well [11], or migrating to shallow aquifers in the Marcellus formation in Pennsylvania [12].Although methane emissions may have influence on climate change, its prevalence in research papers has, in my opinion, the tendency to obscure the significance of harm that other emitted volatile pollutants from hydraulic fracturing operations may have. These pollutants include: particulate matter, carbon mono-oxide (CO), NOx, volatile organic compounds (VOC), radon and secondary pollutants such as ozone (O3). Ozone is a ‘secondary’ pollutant, because it is not emitted by gas well activities per se, but is formed by the interaction of methane, VOCs, and NOx in the presence of sunlight, all of which are emitted at the site. Some researchers stressed the need for monitoring VOC and O3-emissions at gas wells, which according to them deserve to be considered a major public health concern regarding shale gas extraction activities. (Colborn, Kwiatowski, Schultz, & Bachran, 2011; Colborn, Schultz, Herrick, & Kwiatkowski, 2014; Kibble, Cabianca, Daraktchieva, Gooding, & Smithard, 2013; a list of docs I could refer to...)So, needless to say, the climate impact of hydraulic fracturing are probably greatly underestimated.Water pollutionLeakage of fracking fluid can have huge consequences on water ecosystems. Hydraulic fracturing fluids may be harmful for plant and animal life. A major concern is the toxicity of metals that are released in the ground water, such as selenium [13]. An excess of this trace element can be lethal for a plant. And in addition to that, ingestion of it by livestock causes health problems for the latter as well [14]. Another harmful metal that may be released is molybdenum [15].The problem of water pollution by hydraulic fracturing fluid is, I suppose, that you cannot easily identify its effects on particular ecosystems due to the presence of over 1000 chemicals (as documented by Colborn et al. [16]) in the mixture. Each ecosystem will be affected differently.Water pollution is a great concern about fracking.But let me stress it again, it doesn't have to be all this harmful---it just is in the way we frack in the current fashion.Other questions that you may want to ask is:Do, due to local fracking activity, our property values drop?Does fracking harm our health?I hope I have informed you well. I greatly welcome feedback and criticque.Sources:Ingraffea, A. R. (2012, october). Fluid Migration Mechanisms Due To Faulty Well Design And/Or Construction: An Overview And Recent Experiences In The Pennsylvania Marcellus Play.Watson, T., & Bachu, S. (2009). Evaluation of the Potential for Gas and CO2 Leakage Along Wellbores.Burnham, A., Han, J., Clark, C., Wang, M., Dunn, J., & Palou-Rivera, I. (2011). Life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of shale gas, natural gas, coal, and petroleum. Environmental Science and Technology, 46(2), 619–627.Wigley, T. (2011). Coal to gas: the influence of methane leakage. Climate change, 108, 601–608.Hultman, N., Rebois, D., Scholten, M., & Ramig, C. (2011). The greenhouse impact of unconventional gas for electricity generation. Environmental Research Letters, 6(044008), 1-9.Howarth, R., Santoro, R., & Ingraffea, A. (2011). Methane and the greenhouse-gas footprint of natural gas from shale formations. Climate Change, 106(4), 679–690.Yvon-Durocher, G., Allen, A. P., Bastviken, D., Conrad, R., Gudasz, C., St-Pierre, A., et al. (2014). Methane fluxes show consistent temperature dependence across microbial to ecosystem scales. Nature, 507(7493), 488.Tollefson, J. (2013). Methane leaks erode green credentials of natural gas. Nature, 493(7430).Hughes, D. (2011). Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions from shale gas compared to coal: An analysis of two conflicting studies. Santa Rosa: Post Carbon Institute.Dusseault, M., Gray, M., & Nawrocki, P. (2000). Why Oilwells Leak: Cement Behavior and Long-Term Consequences.Osborne, S. e. (2011). Methane Contamination of Drinking Water Accompanying Gas-Well Drilling and Hydraulic Fracturing. Retrieved from http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doe/10.1073/pnas.1100682108Warner, N., Jackson, R., Darrah, T., Osborne, S., Down, A., Zhao, K., et al. (2012). Geochemical evidence for possible natural migration of Marcellus Formation brine to shallow aquifers in Pennsylvania. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Chermak & Schreiber (2014). Mineralogy and trace element geochemistry of gas shales in the United States: environmental implications, Int. J. Coal Geol., 126 (2014), pp. 32–44P.A.M. Rogers, S.P. Arora, G.A. Fleming, R.A.P. Crinion, J.G. McLaughlin (1990). Selenium toxicity in farm animals: treatment and prevention, Ir. Veterinary J., 43 (1990), pp. 151–153B.J. Alloway (2012). Heavy Metals in Soils, Springer, LondonColborn, T., Kwiatowski, C., Schultz, K., & Bachran, M. (2011). Natural gas operations from a public health perspective. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: An International Journal, 17(5), 1039–1056.

Let’s get net power from nuclear fusion. Fusion offers mankind:An almost zero carbon energy source, curtailing climate changeAbundant energy on a low radioactive footprintThe possibility of powering spacecraftAbundant drinkable waterAn endless supply of fuel [reference]Fusion could win both environmentally and economically. But, I would be remiss if I did not mention the potential downside.I mean, ultimately, fusion is just a tool. Like any technology. Our leaders decide how we use these tools. This is why politics still matters even if we get fusion power. In the wrong hands fusion could be used to:Cause yet more income inequalityDestroy more of the environment (with all this excess energy)Cause a population boomNet power would be the Wright Brothers first flight of fusion, it has not happened yet.Net power means beating this energy balance, for a plasma based fusion reactor. People turned this into the Lawson Criteria, but I think it’s better explained by walking through the energy balance.Fusion: Thus far, research has focused on increasing the fusion rate. This leads to giant, expensive machines. These are far away from net power. The goal is to get atoms to slam together. If this happens, they can fuse. Some of the mass is lost, it becomes energy through e = mc^2.Conduction: Conduction is the loss of mass. The mass touches surfaces and it lost. Energy leaves with this mass. You can steer plasma with magnetic and electric fields; you can even get plasma to make fields with self-contain it. So there are options here.Radiation: Radiation is the loss of energy as light. Plenty of energy leaves the plasma cloud as light. This includes visible, x-ray, infrared and ultraviolet. There may be ways to "tune" plasma or the fields to lower these losses.Efficiency: Efficiency is how well we capture the energy. This may be the most unexplored concept in fusion. Efficiency means either lower the amount of energy to run the machine or/and raise the amount of the energy we get out.There are many fusion approaches out there. These are all over the spectrum, from well understood to-never-going-to-work. I recently put together a chart of some of these concepts and grouped them by type and family.If you interested, I wrote a review these approaches in this quora answer. But, I want to mention a few promising ones that have not received the attention or the funding they deserve.Magnetized Target Fusion At Los Alamos, spearheaded by Dr. Scott Hsu and Dr. Glen Wurden. This team has shown a ton of promise, but although the idea has been around for ~10 years, the US took FOREVER to support this team. Today, they survive on an ARPA-E grant.Tri Alpha Energys’ Field Reversed Configuration augmented with particle beams. This idea was proposed by Dr. Norman Rostoker in 1999. The US government did not support the idea, and so the TAE team had to get private funding. Today they get support from billionaires like Paul Allen. The company recently reported the worlds’ longest held FRC.The Levitating Dipole at MIT with Dr. Jay Kesner and Dr. Micheal Mauel. Started in 1998, the project showed major progress. They were gearing up for ignition-style experiments; they budgeted for ~3 million; but in 2011, the budget was cut for ITER support.The Polywell at EMC2. In 2014, this company published the first ever evidence of a new type of diamagnetic plasma trapping. This is a fundamentally new kind of plasma trap. The company is struggling now to raise 30 million in investment over 3 years.The Dynomak at the University of Washington. In 2012, the UWash team developed a entirely new method for heating plasma. Roughly speaking, when plasma spins, it wobbles; the team imposed a wobble and got a spin. The group is seeking 30 million and can’t get federal support, so they founded a company and are looking for VC investment.Magnetically insulated fusors at the University of Sydney. Fusors are cheap, simple, run continuously and are easy to operate. But they can never get net power due to the conduction losses. Last year, U of Sydney published a concept in Physics of Plasma to beat these losses with magnetic fields.The Compact Fusion Reactor at Lockheed Martin. I have ripped on Lockheed for not publishing. What we know about their concept is from a talk at Princeton and 3 patents. But they are chasing a super efficient plasma trap and the director of the Skunkworks recently told the Atlantic council that the trap looked good, so they were raising the temperature [1].There are many, many other ideas. Will some of these ideas fail? Heck yes. But we need to try.But we’re not. You notice this trend when you talk to fusion supporters. They all struggle for funding. I have argued that US fusion federal funding is both low and lopsided.Low Funding: Roughly 500 million is set aside for fusion funding. For context, NASA gets about 32X this budget (and you can argue that NASA funding is low). To be fair, we have another 500 for ICF funding. That is a weapons program, which wants to be a fusion energy program.Lopsided Funding: The US devotes the lions’ share of it’s fusion resources to tokamaks and the majority of that to ITER. I don’t want to knock the office of fusion energy sciences or the DOE. They are very good at supporting the programs we already have — but they stink at finding places for new ideas.So how would I solve the fusion issue? I originally planned to do it through post-docs and research jobs… but there were not enough positions to go around. So we need to solve it by changing the fusion funding environment.Chart Citations:A. 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It's a comprehensive answer of many questions asked to me in last two years - as I am in mood to write today and lazy to Write a separate post ( includes lot of Gyan), and imandari se jitna kiya utna hi claim kiya hai .My Background - prepared for UPSC 2 1/2 year - couldn't clear mains both times- went for alternative - Nabard (Failed in stage 1 itself ( one more exam I failed but I don't remember now- shocking for me - complacent--- Rest cleared) RBI, EPFO, CAT ,SSC .There was a time when I was giving exams atleast once in two weeks including RBI ( one week before RBI Mains I had a SSC)- Finally chosen RBI over SSC, CAT ( means new IIM's - apart from top 6), EPFO.Because of reputation (EPFO), higher ranking officer Post (SSC )- had a interest in public policy , Fees (in RBI they will train you for free for 12 weeks and plus additional training as well) , 4 years break between last job (Honda) would have made it difficult to get good placement as I would have been fresher ( only 11 months prior experience but having gap of Experience persons that too 5yr (CAT).Also I thought I would go for 1yr MBA at a later stage if I want to go for it then I would have experience of working in two reputed organization and proper experience.MBA VS RBI JOBI think there is simply no comparison both are different - it's on you what you want - Money , & Quick promotion (What kind of lifestyle you want ) drives you then go for MBA from decent top 20 college (vs stability) - You can still be linked to public policy by getting job in consultancy firm in their Govt policy department.However it's also about which kind of organisation ( RBI really encourages life long learning ) you want to be part of .What you will get :-1)You will get respect from everyone2) Your middle class dreams would be fulfilled ( car, house and decent vacations)3) Your further education dreams (CFA,FRM, scholarship to chosen few to study abroad) would be supported4) You will get diverse exposure atleast in Regional office5) Ability to generate your own work(best work of it's kind)What You needed to prepare forPosting anywhere and any departmentCould be work dissatisfaction , bored, as wellStagnation in promotionYour experience in RBI would be unique( only central bank) so other job options would be limited .It also depends on which department you are posted (payment , Supervisory department may get somewhat limited opportunity to shift) .Some mythsWork life balance - it depends on how much responsibility you want to take However it's definitely not a 10 to 5 job as aspirant have often Asked me .Your posting would be as per your qualifications- We have CA's working in vault- So it could be in any departmentYour rank has bearing on your place of posting and Department - Definitely this is not the case - I got 13th rank but had no say in anythingIt's difficult to clear for Non- Engineer - this is not the case - it's just that from school onwards sincere student opt for science thus engineers have a high selections ------ If u see top school in respective spheres you will find non engineering colleges have Almost same selection ratio as of Top engineering colleges (this data can be analysed from UPSC annual report- during our time this data used to be there) ———— Just be a sincere aspirant don't worry Abt being a non engineer ( BTW - I am Hybrid:- B. Tech and M.A in political science (nothing great -Ignou only) ) ** and now studying Finance and banking ::)) all three streams .COACHING VS SELF STUDY1)My answer would be somewhere between extreme ends . It depends on person to person - coaching helps in discipline and structured way of studying. Personally I always prefer self study along with test series - I love to have my own strategy , For RBI I didn't go for Coaching.However I might have went for mock interview (I don't remember) Ultimately choice is yours if u can be discipline and systematic then no need to go for coaching (study plans are available on quora,Mrunal)Now most awaited part - How to prepareStep 1:- PreCurrent Affair :- I used testbook app and bookmarked banking based question (focussed on 4 months prior to exams ) as Exam is filled with them( atleast in 2017 - it was)For Quant ,LR ,DI - used arihant though not much( Targeted to clear section cut off easily) - I focussed more on GK as it is least time consuming - Last 30 days I used to give a Full test every second day and used to analyzed it to perfect my strategy as per my strength ( I am engineer Still my Quant was weak- so I focussed on clearing the Cut off and score well in other areas ( Got 60/80 in GK)Last two days revised GK - those bookmarked questions speciallyPS:- Some of my hotshot friend who have cleared many pre stages of other exams failed to cleared RBI because they have taken it lightly (in my case I took nabard lightly - it was eye opener for me helped me clear RBI in my first attempt)I took Almost 15 mocks tests and analyse them (used test book online test , Heard about olive board & prepathon equally good) - was key to cross this hurdle for me- In 2017 - 1.5 Lh filled the form , 1 Lh wrote and 3000 approx clear stage 1 ( as per RTI) .Step 2: Mains :—( one week complete I devoted for this exam - 12hr/day)1) Start finance first it is conceptual - two months before mains exam ( 2 hrs/day) - You could use iibf's e learning for dbf courses - investopedia topic wise - Ratio - Jaiib PDF could be useful in some cases- I have some PDF for thisThough personally I haven't used it - just Used Mrunal and Ramesh for basics economics concept .2) Management - I studied 4 days before exam - and found it sufficient- just revised it twice - Go topic wise - I had a small PDF - IF any body what it along with other Docs- please in comments -type your email ID - I will send to those ID's - I am not saying they r enough (just to be clear) it could be minimum though--I did PDF + topic wise google and made 2 page notes for revising on penultimate day3) Socio and economic issue- my sources - did 12 days before Mains - I had a upsc background- however I felt it was not much of a help other then letting me understand the right source to study - questions were quite factual mostly - schemes , budgetsa)budgetb)vision ias summary of economic surveyc)govt scheme's of vision ias only3) Essay and English -a) Didn't prepare anything for Englishb) Essay - I used to spent 20 minutes - in framework setting of essay - was lazy to write full essays - used lot of connectors -moreover type- remembered some good points from newspaper articles- facts as well not on purposeRest it depends on your own skill level, you need to prepare accordingly. Prepare on topics which are current and lot of lead articles are coming on it (Read them throughly- I preferred Hindu , I.E and Business standard)There would Be options - one would be on economics as well as on Democracy/ Social issue for sureOut of 3000 - approx 900 were called for interviewStep 3:- INTERVIEW:- Panel would have 5 members chaired by I.A.SThey would be cooperative and cordial in generalFive areas I reckoned are important -a)Your profile -education - why RBI, b)Economic survey and Current economic and social issue (I was asked abt twin balance sheet problem (not able to answered )and Parliamentary vs presidential system ( nailed it !!!!!- read some articles abt it few days before - answered it comprehensively)c) Habits /Hobbies - I made a point to show them I focussed on improving myself - by ex:- Increased my trekking altitude from 12000 ft to 18000 ft - from easy to Difficult - by working on my fitness - provided similar examples of improvement in other spheres of life as well d) Abt RBI functioning - I read D Subbarao - book who moved my interest rate - quite handy for interview.Also Kaushik Basu book - An economist in real world - They expect you to go through RBI Website as well as governor's latest speechese) Economics concept - terminology - Banking industry - issues - Rural finance - financial inclusion- I was asked abt Agriculture credit and RRB.Moreover, quite a lot depends how seed the next question - Your answer would leads to next questionI did told them Abt my UPSC background - they seemed non chalant Abt it as if they were expecting it - I scored 36/50 - avg or just above average marks as far as I rememberTo conclude , Exam itself is not tough It is the competition which makes it . (In our batch 50% people had a UPSC background and rest have banking background- Only 30–35 / 160 were out of premier colleges , same ratio as in UPSC)Everything stated above is from my experience , other people experience and interpretation of facts .You seek other perspective too. One more thing , prepare with mindset that whatever I have done in my preparation is minimum, not make it as only Target .Our Aim is to give our best - My preparation was as per my strengths and Time Constraints so aim higher for better probability of selection . I found level 1 as toughest stage to clear in all exams I have given apart from UPSC.Many people who are working , this strategy will suit them (though taking two week leave before exam would be desirable and enough) . I know people who are not working they have to prepare multiple exam simultaneously as each exam differs from each other's ( 60–70%), if you go deep into granularity of demands of each exam. So it is not easy for them too. If you have time go for multiple revision from a single source only (after preparing topic wise comprehensively once) instead of multiple source and practice Quant and LR more.I am continuously updating this answer as per new queries raised to me. BEST OF LUCK